


Silver Lining

by LunarAsylum



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 02:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2292776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarAsylum/pseuds/LunarAsylum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Winchester just wanted a quiet evening at home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Lining

**Author's Note:**

  * For [In_Factorem_Verba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_Factorem_Verba/gifts).



> Thanks, as always, to in_factorem_verba for the wondrous prompts you always give. I don't think I necessarily adhered to this one, but hey, story nonetheless! Enjoy folks!
> 
> Prompt: Silver, Lobby, Whole

When Sam arrived home, he happened upon a scene he had neither anticipated or was in the mood for. The house was dim, only lit by candles of various smells and sizes scattered across the rooms. The aroma was not only confusing, but annoying as it assaulted his senses.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked as he tossed his bag onto the couch. Romance was something he was definitely not in the mood for after a long day on the job. The heat had been unbearable, but the best time for peoples' air conditioning systems to break down was in the middle of the summer.

 

Making his way to the bedroom, the overwhelming scent of the candles died down and the sight he was greeted with in the bedroom only fueled his irritation. The bed was smothered in flower petals, candles settled onto every square inch of flat surface that could be found. Clearly, Dean had not considered the fact that they would have to clean all this up.

 

“Really, Dean? Really? What, have you been reading romance novels lately?” he called out as he approached the bed, peeling away one of the many layers of clothing he had to wear at work. His brow furrowed when spotted a black spot amongst all the various colored petals on the bed. Last he had checked, their comforter was not black.

 

Reaching forward, he grasped at the darkness, only to find something tangible, a small black box now in the palm of his hand. Instantly, his stomach dropped, his heart suddenly racing as he knew was what typically inside these little boxes. Dean knew better though.

 

Their relationship was illegal in every sense of the word, but Dean had insisted he didn't mind if Sam didn't mind, and so they had had sex that night. Sam anything but minded, and he really couldn't imagine where they'd be if things had gone any other way.

 

Swallowing thickly, he flipped open the container, finding it void of a ring, but instead a folded piece of paper was inside. Pulling it out, he tossed the box back onto the bed, unfolding the paper to read what he assumed was a note from Dean.

 

Instead, all it said was ' _Look up and collect us'_ , which only pushed Sam to the edge of his agitation. Glaring, he looked up to see a bright green sticky note labeled '#1' and an arrow pointing down. Sighing, he navigated around the bed to see a little table that had once hosted a potted plant at Sam's insistence. Now, though, it held a plain white envelope. Bending to pick it up, he flipped it over with the intent to open it, but just as his thumb reached under the flap, he spotted a note.

 

' _Open me at the last_ .'

 

“The last what?” Sam asked, disgruntled and annoyed at this hunt that Dean was now sending him on. Beneath the note was an arrow that pointed to his right, and he turned, seeing another bright green sticky note labeled '#2'. The scavenger hunt carried on in the same fashion, though the sticky notes became increasingly more subtle as they led him down the hallway, through the kitchen, and then to the sliding glass door that led to their patio. 

 

Pushing the door open, he saw a black cloth mat on the ground with an envelope labeled ' _The Last_ ', and heaving a sigh, he knelt down in front of the mat, dropping 14 other envelopes on the ground. Grabbing the last envelope, he flipped it over, seeing a note scrawled in the same handwriting as before. It instructed him to open all the envelopes in numerical order.

 

Withholding a groan, he grabbed the one labeled number one and ripped it open. What was inside was enough to anger and confused him simultaneously. 

 

“What in the hell are you doing to me, Dean?” he grumbled as he tipped the puzzle piece from the envelope, studying it. He could tell it was the corner edge of a picture that Dean had obviously made into a picture, but there was a line covering the bottom part of it, making him question what the hell Dean had done. 

 

He continued the process, one by one until the puzzle was complete and he let his eyes wander over the entire image as he sank back on his haunches. A hand ran up over his face and into his hair as he read the words aloud.

 

“ _'I know that this is probably the dumbest thing I've done, but I want you to stay with me. '_ ”, he said in barely a whisper. It was simple, and definitely the dumbest thing Dean had done, but it had a hard hitting impact Sam hadn't expected. The words 'stay with me' just echoed in his mind, ringing out in Dean's voice. 

 

It was then he noticed at the bottom, there was another arrow, pointing to his left and he looked to see a particularly large piece of paper attached to their backyard entrance of their garage. Getting up and abandoning the puzzle there, he walked over to the paper which had an address, a time, and instructions for Sam to get dressed nicely. 

 

Running his hands over his face again, he inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly, before turning back around and heading inside. It was then that it hit him that Dean had left the house with candles burning. Pushing down his rage, he decided to quickly go around and blow out all the candles, figuring he'd give Dean a piece of his mind later.

 

It wasn't too long later that Sam found himself impeccably dressed, running his fingers through his hair, opting out of the comb option. Checking himself in the mirror again, his ran his hands through his hair one more time before heading out to his car. He could figure out where this night was going, but it didn't make it any less nerve wracking. 

 

Swallowing thickly, he took a deep breath as he pulled out of the driveway, the address Dean had given him already in his GPS. He hadn't bothered to look at the location, so when he pulled up to the gates of a park, he was incredibly confused. Slowly driving down the pathway to what he assumed was the parking lot, he saw signs that it seemed Dean had put out to direct him.

 

Once he was parked, next to Dean's car, he got out, looking for more instructions on where to go. He spotted a sign a few yards away, and he followed the arrow which led to more until he finally came up on the marina that was at the park. Furrowing his brow, he looked around until he saw a dim glow coming from the shore line.

 

“You son of a bitch,” he muttered under his breath, but a smile edged its way onto his face as he headed towards the shore. What greeted him was nothing under breathtaking. Dean sat at the table, which was elegantly put together, the table cloth draping all the way to the ground. The older man looked up when he heard footsteps, grinning over at Sam when he saw him.

 

“You didn't use a comb, did you?” he asked, causing Sam to laugh as he approached the table.

 

“Do I ever?”

 

“No, so fuck you and your perfect hair,” Dean said, but a light, gentle smile highlighted his entire face. “That didn't take you so long.”

 

“You made it fairly easy, Dean,” Sam said, arching an eyebrow as he finally took a seat. “So I'm assuming this is what I think it is, Mr. Romance?”

 

“Aw, come on now, Sammy, don't ruin the fun of it,” Dean said as he leaned back in his seat, giving Sam the same cocky, crooked smile he gave all the people he flirted with. It was Dean's comfort zone, which was a telltale sign that Dean was actually fairly uncomfortable.

 

A silent moment passed comfortably between them as the sounds of the water lapping at the dock and boats soothed both their nerves. Dean was the first to get the nerves to speak.

 

“It is and it isn't,” he said quietly. “I'm not stupid nor hopeful enough to think we could ever...”

 

He paused, clearly looking for the right word to use. Sam could tell he was struggling with how to phrase the things he wanted to say and he wanted to tell him that he could say whatever, but decided against it, knowing that it would only irritate him.

 

“...Legally get to that point. I know our limits, and where I'm willing to go and not go, and I'd like to think I know yours as well. So no, this isn't a proposal, Sam. Not like that.”

 

Sam watched the way his brother's face moved as he spoke, the way the muscles pulled at the skin, smoothing out certain wrinkles that had started to appear. The stubble only accented Dean's features, making him a lot more attractive than he was clean shaven, but that was Sam's opinion. He offered his brother a smile in order to urge him to go on. 

 

“I need you, Sammy. These past years have probably been the better years of my life, as you well know. You've been there far more often than most brothers are, and I can't thank you enough for that. I try to do that every day that I wake up, and I know there are a lot of days where I don't succeed.

 

I know there are lot of days where I only make things more difficult for you, or days where I know you want to kill me. Like today for instance.”

 

Sam laughed at that because it was very true. He had wanted to murder Dean when he had gotten home to what he saw as a future mess that would take hours to clean up.

 

“I'd like to kill you for having left the candles lit in an empty house.” 

 

“Oh, Sammy give me more credit than that. I was hiding at the house the entire time.”

 

“You were creeping on me?!” Sam asked, laughing again as Dean grinned at him.

 

“I was watching the house to make sure it didn't burn down. I put a lot of money into that house, Sammy. I'm not gunna waste it all for this moment, though it would definitely be worth it.”

 

It was things like the little statements Dean made that put a smile on to Sam's face. His heart felt light at that as he stared at his older brother who looked a little embarrassed at that point. 

 

“You know, it's a hell of a thing to give this speech to someone who's known you their whole life,” Dean said, his voice showing his nervous and flustered emotions. Sam chuckled at that, leaning back in his seat, motioning for the shorter man to go on.

 

“Right...” he murmured, running a hand through the back of his hair. “I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you to stay with me. Live the rest of your life with me, and deal with my bullshit and keep me from going off the deep end, and in return, I uh...”

 

Sam's smile widened at that, knowing what Dean was trying to say, and he wasn't about to interrupt him. The older Winchester never said it, never even fathomed saying it, and the younger knew what it meant for Dean to even try. 

 

“I'll love you until I die.”

 

To say the least, Sam had never expected his brother to say it like that, to anyone ever, much less to him. It made his heart race and his chest tighten as emotions welled at the edges of his eyes. His face broke into a bigger smile at that, leaning forward in his chair. 

 

“I will, Dean, I promise,” he said, causing Dean to smile even wider than Sam as his left fist unclenched, and he laid it flat on the table, a simple, yet elegant ring in the palm of his hand.

 

“Will you put it on?” Dean asked him. “You don't have to if you don't want to, I understand--”

 

The older Winchester was silence as Sam was on him, kissing him full on the mouth, the ring falling from Dean's hand as he let his hands raised to entangle themselves into his brother's hair. He had never been able to pinpoint what kind of reaction he'd get form Sam at doing all of this, but this reaction was far better than some he had envisioned beforehand. 

 

The younger man pulled away after a moment, before looking over to the table to see the ring near the edge.

 

“You'd be crazy to assume I'd say no,” Sam whispered, giving the older man a quick kiss before moving back across the table, his hand sliding to grab the ring. Rolling it between his fingers, he admired Dean's taste, finding the circular metal to be incredibly.

 

The ring had the edges of it smoothed out like the inner circle, yet the surface on the outside was grainy with a thin division in the middle. There were three diamonds equally placed along the top in the division, accenting it perfectly, yet simplistically. Dean had obviously considered what would catch attention and what wouldn't.

 

Sliding it onto his left ring finger, he admired the way it seemed to just become a part of his hand, before he looked up at Dean.

 

“Am I the only one that gets one?” he asked, arching an eyebrow as Dean laughed.

 

“No, no, I just figured I wouldn't get one for myself before I asked you. Seemed to be banking pretty heavily on you saying yes.”

 

“You doubted I'd say yes?”

 

“I doubted you'd wear the ring.”

 

Dean had a point, since Sam was never much for jewelry, while the older had an affinity for it. His eyes landed on the ring on his brother's right hand, the rough and beaten metal still bright against Dean's skin. 

 

“You could always use Dad's ring,” Sam suggested and Dean made a noise at that.

 

“And devalue our relationship? We deserve our own declaration. I'll keep Dad's ring where it because that's where it belongs,” he said with a smile. 

 

“Are you getting the same ring then?” he asked and his older brother shook his head. 

 

“No, then it would be obvious to the observant people. I'm getting a ring that's similar, yet not exact. I'll show you when we get home,” Dean said, giving his younger brother a wide grin as his eyes slipped down to the ring on Sam's finger. 

 

“And when will that be, exactly? Did you really just set this table up here for you to propose to me?” 

 

Dean scoffed at that, but a smirk easily replaced the noise as he leaned forward. 

 

“You're damn right I set this table up for that only reason, but it's not the only thing we're doing tonight. You and I got a dinner date,” he said, laughing. “Come on, I asked the park security if we could leave a car here, earlier. We'll get your car tomorrow, but tonight you ride in style.”

 

“Dean, please, your Impala is not 'style',” Sam countered, laughing as the older man pulled him out of his seat.

 

“Do not insult Baby, she is sensitive!” the brunette exclaimed, looking back at his younger brother. “And you can't diss on a '67 Impala, man, that is the meaning of class.”

 

“Yeah, if disrupting neighborhoods every time you drive through is classy, then I need to go back to school,” he responded, chuckling at the shorter man. 

 

“I can take you back, if you'd like,” Dean countered, giving him a flirtatious smirk as he opened the door for Sam. “Though if that's too much for you, I can just give you a quick lesson instead.”

 

Sam was pinned in between Dean and the car a moment after that, the shorter man's lips on his as their bodies pressed together. The taller made a noise as he felt Dean's hand grasp his hair, pulling it a little bit as the kiss intensified. His brother's free hand wandered all over his body, pressing and touching all the right places. It made it even harder to break away from the kiss.

 

“Dean... don't we have dinner to get to?” he asked once he had pulled away.

 

“I think we could be a little late,” Dean purred, but Sam stopped him advancing. 

 

“Dean, I'm starving,” he said matter-of-factly, causing Dean to chuckle as he pulled away from him. 

 

“Fine, fine, Fun-sucker,” he said, grinning as he circled his car. Once they were both in, Dean took off, rumbling down the roadway to exit the park. 

 

“Hey, Dean?”

 

“Yeah, Sammy?”

 

“I love you, too,” he said, giving his brother a smile, which was returned as Dean glanced over at him. 

 

“You better.”

 


End file.
